Toy building-block



M. L. GREENSTREET.

TOY BUILDING BLOCK.

APPLICATION FILED FEB. I6, 1920.

1 37 1,619. Patented Mar. 15, 1921.

Jive/z Za/ red L raazzjirai UNITED STATES HILFBED I. GREENB'I'BEET, OF mLlWOOD, MISSOURI, ABBIGNOR TO BLOCIEB TOY PATENT OFFICE.

MANUFACTURING mm, Oil HAPLEWOOD, MISSOURI, A. COBYOM'IION O1 MISSOURI.

speciilcation'of Letters Patent. Patented Mar. 15, 1921.

Application filed February 18, 1820. Serial H6. 858,906.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, MILFRED L. GREEN- srnnnr, a citizen of the United States, residing at Maplewood, Missouri, have invented a certain new and useful Improvement in Toy Building-Blocks, of which the following is a full, clear, and exact description, such as will enable others skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use the same, reference being had to the accompan ing drawings, forming part of this speci cation.

My invention relates generally to toys or playthings for children, and more particularly to toy building blocks, the principal object of my invention being to provide blocks that are constructed so that they are capable of being connected directly to each other, thereby simplifying and greatly facilitating the assembling of a number of the blocks and eliminating the necessity for extraneous connecting means.

My present invention'is an improvement upon the blocks disclosed in .Patent No. 1,294,446, issued to myself and my assignees February 18, 1919, and it is one of the objects" of this invention to generally improve upon and simplify the construction of the blocks disclosed in the aforesaid patent, and likewise to improve upon other similar types of toy building blocks.

Further objects of my invention are to provide toy building blocks which are capable of being easily and cheaply produced and to form the blocks so that they may be readily assembled or taken apart, and conseof the toy building blocks connected to each the same being preferably formed of wood or analogous material, and of any desired size and thickness. This block while preferably in the form of a true square, ma be formed so that its length is substantially greater than its width. However, for all practical purposes, I prefer to form the blocks square with a length and breadth of an inch and a half or two inches and with a thickness of approximately a quarter of an lnch. Other forms of blocks may be triangular in outline as illustrated in Fig. 2.

Formed in the edges of the blocks thus constructed are substantially rectangular notches 11, the depth of which is approximately equal to the thickness of the blocks, and these notches gradually taper in width so that they become narrower toward their inner ends.

In order that the blocks may be firmly interlocked with each other when assembled, the notches 11 are formed so that their width at a point approximately halfway between the outer edges of the blocks and the bottoms of the notches or the width on the line marked X, Fig. 4, is equal to the thick- 'ness of the blocks. By virtue of this construction, when two of the blocks are connected to each other by inserting'the notched edge of one block in a notch in the edge of another, and forcing said blocks toward each other with a slight pressure, portions of said blocks immediately adjacent to the inner ends. of said notches will be squeezed slightly, thereby. creating friction between the interchanged parts so as to firmly hold the blocks in their assembled positions. (See Fig. 5.) This tapering or gradual narrowing of the notches toward their inner ends enables the blocks to be readily assembled and firmly secured to each other even though said blocks var slightly in thickness due to inaccuracies o manufacture or as a result of slight shrinkage which may occur when the blocks become thoroughly ioy building blocks of my improved construction may be easily and cheaply proanimals, and the duced, are readily assembled or taken apart, do not require extraneous connecting or attaching members, are capable of being assembled so as to simulate various ob ects such as buildings, furniture, machmery 1ke, and consequently said blocks provide an entertaining and instructive toy for children.

It will be readily understood-that minor changes in the size, form construction of the various parts of my improved toy building blocks can'be made and substituted for those herein shown and descrlbed, without departing from the spirit of m inven tion, t appended claims.

- a claim:

1. Toy building blocks of substantially uniform thickness and having tapered e scope of which 1s set fort in'the notches in their edges ap roximately' as deep as the thickness of the locks, the bottoms of said notches beingsli htli narrower than the thickness of said 1oc s so that when one block is laced in the notch of another it will be he (1 tightly in position.

2. 'loy building uniform thickness and having notches in their edges approximate y as deep as the thickness of the locks, the bottoms of said notches being slightly narrower than the thickness of said blocks and the mouths of said notches being slightly wider than the thickness of the blocks so that when blocks of. substantially v -ta red oneblock is placed in the notch of another 

